Nitrite not going down during nitrogen cycle

[Day]

Started my fishless tank cycle on 10/2/23 using dr Tim’s ammonia, prime and 1.5 oz of fritz turbostart 700. My nitrite went up on 10/6 and hasn’t gone back down. It’s been stuck at .25 for 8 days. My ammonia goes down every 24 hours though.

Current parameters:
pH: 8.0
Ammonia: 0 (dose to 2ppm every 24 hours)
Nitrite: .25
Nitrate: 160 ppm (I know I need to do a water change, i did a 50% change and it’s still the same)
Temp: 87F

My question is, am I on the right track?? Does it really take this long for it to go down. I also thought it was suppose to go into the deep dark purple before going down as well but I haven’t seen that.

 

[wolfen]

depending on filtration nitrites sometimes aren't seen at all, as with ammonia the nitrites are broken down by the bio-filtration, unlike the ammonia which are produced in the tank and broken down in the filtration nitrites are produced in filter and broken down in filter, if there are nitrites ensure there is enough bio-media and that the water is adequately oxygenated.
is the tank able to break down 4ppm or have you only been dosing at 2ppm.
if you are using the two topfin filters that you spoke about in previous posts ensure the bio-media is placed the same as the photo on boxes, also ensure that the flow is at max.

 

[Day]

depending on filtration nitrites sometimes aren't seen at all, as with ammonia the nitrites are broken down by the bio-filtration, unlike the ammonia which are produced in the tank and broken down in the filtration nitrites are produced in filter and broken down in filter, if there are nitrites ensure there is enough bio-media and that the water is adequately oxygenated.
is the tank able to break down 4ppm or have you only been dosing at 2ppm.
if you are using the two topfin filters that you spoke about in previous posts ensure the bio-media is placed the same as the photo on boxes, also ensure that the flow is at max.

Could it be that I have matrix in there and the nitrites won’t rise above .25?? And yes only 2ppm. I’ve been doing research and I keep seeing/getting told that 4ppm could stall the tank so I just kept it at 2ppm. I know Axolotl’s make up to 4ppm of ammonia, but My Axolotl is so small, it’s not an adult yet, it’s far from it, so i thought it didn’t really make that much of a difference to dose to 4ppm. I stopped dosing it to 1ppm though which is what I was doing originally.

 

[wolfen]

the 4ppm dosing does cause some confusion but there is a reason for it, axolotls grow very fast and sometimes very big (up to 18 inches although rare, 9-12 being normal), because of speed of growth the filtration needs to be proof tested to ensure there won't be any problems months or years down the line due to inability to cope with the waste level.
unless you are planning to upgrade your filter in 6 months - year it needs to be able to cope with an adult axolotl.
at the end of the day it's for peace of mind.

 

[Day]

the 4ppm dosing does cause some confusion but there is a reason for it, axolotls grow very fast and sometimes very big (up to 18 inches although rare, 9-12 being normal), because of speed of growth the filtration needs to be proof tested to ensure there won't be any problems months or years down the line due to inability to cope with the waste level.
unless you are planning to upgrade your filter in 6 months - year it needs to be able to cope with an adult axolotl.
at the end of the day it's for peace of mind.

Other than the ammonia dosage, was doing a 50% water change the right thing?
It didn’t really do much except bring the pH down a little bit.
I did redose the ammonia after the photo.

 

[wolfen]

because of how high the nitrates were changing water was a good thing to do (it also introduces fresh water)
looks like you had over 160ppm nitrates so when you did a fifty percent water change the test showed that the nitrates are still close to 160ppm, unfortunately api nitrate test don't have a mark between 80ppm and 160ppm or higher (you could probably test higher by either diluting the water to be tested with tap/distilled/ro or use only five drops instead of ten then double result)
provided the ph doesn't drop below 7 it will be fine (preferable to keep it at least 7.4-7.6)

 

[Day]

because of how high the nitrates were changing water was a good thing to do (it also introduces fresh water)
looks like you had over 160ppm nitrates so when you did a fifty percent water change the test showed that the nitrates are still close to 160ppm, unfortunately api nitrate test don't have a mark between 80ppm and 160ppm or higher (you could probably test higher by either diluting the water to be tested with tap/distilled/ro or use only five drops instead of ten then double result)
provided the ph doesn't drop below 7 it will be fine (preferable to keep it at least 7.4-7.6)

I would unfortunately have to do a full water change or a 80% water change for it to be low again, but I’m not doing that until the tank is fully cycled. My nitrate in tap is 10 ppm.

 

[wolfen]

try to only do 50% water changes at a time so as not to disturb the biological filtration too much.
although the nitrates in an axolotl tank are ideal at <10ppm they are tolerant up to 110ppm

 

[Day]

try to only do 50% water changes at a time so as not to disturb the biological filtration too much.
although the nitrates in an axolotl tank are ideal at <10ppm they are tolerant up to 110ppm

Of course should I do a 50% water change 1 week and then again the next? Orrr.. what would you recommend?

 

[wolfen]

once your axolotl is in the tank weekly water changes would be required, might as well get into the habit now (if the nitrates aren't 110ppm or higher whilst cycling skip the water change)